Submitted by Hazel Smith, Spark Facilitator
The current reality is that we have almost no long-term rental inventory, while options for first time buyers are also scarce. If you are a young, or not so young, seasonal worker in Tobermory you must either move out of the former St Edmunds Township boundaries to areas relatively untouched by enterprise accommodation (aka STA) or find a friend or relative to take you in.
Many have grappled with the housing issue over the past few years, community members and business people alike (a shout out to the Housing Committee, the Tobermory United Church, Councillor Golden). A local builder was looking at the Brock Street site a few years ago and there are fresh rumours about a prospective development just south of town. We continue to live in hope that some of this effort will lead to the creation of affordable, decent, long-term accommodation. But it’s not going to happen overnight.
In interviews conducted by the Friends of the Bruce National Park with seniors in the 1990s, many refer to houses they or friends or family rented “when starting out”. Walking the village today my mother recalls places where her parents or relatives lived before they could afford home ownership: one down the ravine beside the little pizza kiosk, one “up behind” Helen Addison’s house, another just beside the present day Blue Heron Shop. In other words, in my mother’s childhood there was a rental housing inventory.
By my childhood the long-term rental inventory was provided largely by Peter and Sue Paquette who built Happy Hearts Trailer Park and included a long-term seasonal option. Bradley Davis Sr, former Reeve, led the creation of a seniors’ complex so the local elderly would not have to leave the community when too old or frail to maintain a house. That building is an unparalleled legacy in terms of infrastructure development.
Over time the long-term rental stock of my mother’s youth transitioned to cottage inventory, initially owner occupied. Now largely occupied for short-term holiday stays. Or it was pulled down for new homes or businesses. Most recently Happy Hearts Trailer Park no longer offers a year round option. The present owners simply finding it unsustainable.
The Press has given much space to views about the implications of a local housing market that has substantially transitioned into an enterprise market.
Few of us object to the principle of enterprise. Personally, I am delighted to see people thriving. Yet while we celebrate our success, we can be simultaneously concerned about affordable housing and the inability of local wage-earners, almost exclusively seasonal, to secure decent, affordable housing.
Last winter I was part of a small group including Julia Rouse, Kimberly Belrose, Andrea Munn, and Yvette Roberts who met as part of The Meeting Place initiative Seasonal Workers and Entrepreneurs Spark Ideas (“Spark”) program. We cast our minds to what can be done now, in the short term.
The idea agreed on was to explore the possibility of “creating” a small number of long-term rentals. Not by building, but by “recruiting” a handful of long-term landlords.
People have opted for short-term rentals for a host of reasons, not just financial. We want to hear from local long term and short term landlords (present, past, or possible future) to better understand both the benefits and challenges. Ideally to see what scope exists to address the present imbalance and need.
We also want to hear from tenants (current, former, and aspirational) in order to understand the challenges and issues from that perspective.
The ultimate goal is modest: to “create” within 1 year 4 new long-term rental options and to consider supports that would increase the likelihood of success. The Meeting Place or some other entity, perhaps a local, small scale “housing authority”, would provide something akin to a match-making service, offering tools and resources such as rental agreements, education, and dispute resolution.
If you are a landlord, past or present, of either short or long term accommodation, whether your experience has been good or bad, and would be willing to participate in a conversation, I would love to hear from you. Likewise, if you are a tenant, current, past, or hope to be in the near future.
This work is part of the Bruce County strategic community initiatives fund, The Meeting Place has received 2-year funding to help facilitate the design of some new resources. The focus is specific to addressing social and economic ‘risks’ sometimes associated with the seasonal economy.
I can be contacted at hazellyder@gmail.com or via The Meeting Place on facebook, or by telephone: 519 596 2313.
